Show A QUESTION OF christianity can a chinaman become a christ ian is ie the more curious than important ques ion discussed by bj rev bev frederick J masters in the californian magazine for october the discussion is occasioned by an article which previously ly appeared in a journal on the pacific coast in which the author makes the following sweeping state the chinese ate are irredeemably and irretrievably bad and vile as a rule and all efforts to chrisi christianize lanze them only make them greater hypocrites than ever it is ut er folly to dream of the chinese embracing the christian religion for it to is alien to their disposition mr masters admits that among the cherese are to be found wany many totally depraved specimens of humanity and that the obstacles in the way of missionary labor among that people are formidable this thie he claims balms that about chinaman have ande open professions of christianity and that not a few of those fave bave been steadfast in the midst of persecutions and have even sealed baled their testimony with their lives in addition to this thin many chinaman in this country be says have joined the churches and given evidence of sincerity these facts facto be takes as indisputable proof that even the china men man can become christians christian the question being purely thoo theological logi can beat be answered by reference to an eminent apostle declares that the almighty madlof made of r ote one blood every nation of men man having determined their appointed appointed seasons and the bounds 0 of their h habitations citations that they should seek god if perhaps they might feel after him and find him and the commission given by the founder of the christian religion reli eion to his messengers was this to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature which does not appear to admit of ft a construction by which the chinese are excepted to the believers of the scriptures therefore the question under consideration Is uncalled for if the chinese belong to the great human family they are capable ot or conversion aud have some share hare in the benefits of the atoning work of our lord As living on the earth they are within the boun boundaries dArles of the great sphere extending in fact to both the heavens and the earth both visible and invisible world within which life and salvation are freely offered they must therefore as a matter of fact be ca capable able these benefits go no one acquainted with the history of missions can very well deny that the efforts of missionaries have had some influence for good among the so called celestials calestia celesti als ls 11 only recently a missionary at amoy china relates how old idols are gradually disc discarded discar aried Jed in places where the doctrines of christianity are proclaimed As un an instance of this be mentions that during a conflagration which destroyed a tern tem pie many images were consumed and nobody made an effort to save them one lemark was made at the time which expressed the sentiment of the multitude if these gods cannot help themselves nor ask for assistance they are less potent than rats rate chickens and 11 incidents of this nature must be encouraging to those who labor for the overthrow of idolatry on the other hand no one ought to dispute the fact that the success of the missionaries among the chinese is hardly in proportion to the lubor labor and means spent on the enterprise the reasons for this are plain in the first fi rat place the chinese chines are not a religious people the stagnation which marks their civilization extends to religious ideas and sentiments the educated classes profess confucianism which 1 ie hardly a religion at all but a more mere system of philosophy buddhism la Is more of a religious system but it in ie ovi evidently dently going to decay its temples falling failing into ruins and its vot votaries aries held to ID contempt by the higher alases of the people seems to have degenerated into a species of alchemy and spiritualism combined anil and almost everywhere utter indifference to religious subjects Is noticeable no one cares what religion his neighbor professes or what cultus he practices and many are found who profess all the three creeds above referred to while others reject all no wonder that missionaries cannot make progress among a people who treat so lightly the subjects in which the missionaries arbor should bechlem bech be chiefly lef interested in the next place it is a question worthy of serious consideration whether christianity as an it exists today in the world can be expected to successfully cope with paganism ju in its various form certain it la that in arguments argument with educated pagans the missionaries do not always appear to the beat advantage when the gospel of christ flat wag w proclaimed to the world its effect was to silence alence the most profound scholars among the opponents it created en an thuela sm among the converts the pagan religious systems were shattered and the idols dethroned dethroner while the multitudes turned to worship at the foot of the crucified one these effects were produced not through the eloquence of the messengers nor through their au superior bior knowledge of the things in which the learned men of the age prided themselves but by the power of were filled and by the uncompromising proclamation of truth similar results have followed the preaching of the gospel of christ in this age by his chosen messengers and in consequence of the presence of the same flame divine power for after all conversion oon verion is not the work of man except as an instrument but the work of the almighty now the christianity of today Is ia not what it originally was waa this thin is ia admitted by all we believe its votaries vot aries do not believe in the presence ot of those gifts gifta of the divine power which are its ita life and soul those gifts are disregarded the form may partly be left but without that spirit itle it Is dead the christianity of today la Is the work of man it to la reduced to a system or to speak correctly to many systems of semi is artificial it may have its ita use in IB the political and social structures of the world but it ts is not identical with that which its founder left as a sacred inheritances to his in devoted followers it is as different from the prototype as an electric lamp to Is fr m the glorious sun and it is as pow powerless erles to promote a luxuriant vegetation as is the former christianity without inspired mev mer christianity without the accompanying gift christianity without prophecy and equally remarkable kable christianity without many of its fundamental doctrines that is what the missionaries of today offer the heathen world how can anybody be expected to accept it it beems to be an invitation to feast on empty plates platea arajo amount of decora tive live designs can compensate for the absence of real food this is in the true condition of christianity today hence its weakness and lack of progress both among the chinese and other nations hence also the reason why it loses loees it hold among the masses in the civilized world as well as among many of the most moat advanced of theace the age there is ii only one remedy for it and that la Is the return to the gospel in its simplicity as an restored to the world by revelation there is in some iome truth in the much contradicted of old augustin extra satur if rightly understood the salvation al of the human humah race in offered by the almighty through the medium of his church only any effort to truly christianize the world by those choie who are not connected with the true church are unauthorized and must be consequently ineffective |